Got here without major problems, just a traffic tie-up on the way to the airport that I was able to detour around, and about 2:30 PM I was walking down through the gaslamp district to the convention center. I’m too tired to do much commentary this evening, so this will be mostly photos of things that caught my eye.

One of several new methods of Hollywood advertising I noticed was these huge ads on buildings. Looks like a few folks didn’t go along with the deal on this one.

Got my badge without a wait (one of the better things about arriving when I do) and hit the con floor.

Despite all the non-comics hoopla, you can still enjoy looking at vintage comic art at booths like this one.

Into gaming? How about a few dice? This is about 10% of the stock at this one booth.

Had a chat with Mark Wheatley, who I think is doing some stunning new digital painting, and looking for publishers who’d like to hire him for that. Publishers, take note!

The upcoming revamp of “Tron” is getting lots of publicity, here’s a life-size model based on it. I may be one of the few who liked the original.

At the Dark Horse booth I was privileged to spend a few minutes watching legendary European artist Milo Manara sketching…

…one of his sexy girls.

The Marvel booth is dominated by this huge and beautifully designed prop which I think is Odin’s throne from their upcoming “Thor” film.

Old friend Gary Gianni with his new self-published “Prince Valiant” oversized comic, compiling a year of his newspaper strips, but reformatted into comics-style continuity. Mike Mignola was there chatting to Gary, and got dragged into the picture.

Fantasy illustrators Brian and Wendy Froud.

My favorite fan costume of the ones I saw today.

Finally heading back to my hotel after a few fun but exhausting hours of walking, I passed this Chuck Jones Gallery, prepping for a show with Stan Lee. They have all kinds of comics art, looks like.

More tomorrow.